Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations

After Turmoil, Valeant Is Under Pressure To Show Return To Normalcy With Earnings

The drugmaker will report first quarter earnings Tuesday, and analysts will be looking to see how the company plans to resume generating profit and growth without the controversial moves it used to increase prices in the past. Other drug company news comes from Pfizer's chief executive and Martin Shkreli, the former head of Retrophin and Turing, who faces an additional charge.

The Wall Street Journal:
Valeant Looks To Show Steps Toward Normalcy
After months of turmoil over its drug-price increases and business practices, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. will try to show this week that it’s getting back to business as usual. Valeant reports its first-quarter earnings Tuesday. To paint a picture of normalcy, the Canadian drug company and its new chief executive, Joseph Papa, will have to address some pointed questions about its performance and prospects. (Rockoff and Rapoport, 6/4)

Bloomberg:
Pfizer CEO Read Is Open To Mega-Merger; Inversion? Not So Much
Pfizer Inc. Chief Executive Officer Ian Read says his failed attempts to buy major pharmaceutical companies Allergan Plc and AstraZeneca Plc haven’t soured him on mega-mergers, though he’s throwing in the towel when it comes to tax-cutting acquisitions. ... “If you believe you can reorganize your research into productive smaller units, there is a logic to consolidation of the industry by taking out duplicative expenses,” particularly if the two companies can generate dramatic cost savings, Read said. “The biggest pressure for that, if it comes, will come from constrained budgets on health care.” (Cortez, 6/2)

The Hill:
CEO: Pfizer Unlikely To Pursue Another Offshore Tax Deal
Pfizer Chief Executive Officer Ian Read said that the pharmaceutical company is highly unlikely to consider another "corporate inversion" due to the Obama administration's efforts to halt these offshore tax deals. The company had attempted to merge with British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, but AstraZeneca rejected Pfizer's offer in 2014. (Jagoda, 6/3)

The Wall Street Journal:
Martin Shkreli Faces A New Conspiracy Charge
Federal prosecutors on Friday unsealed a new conspiracy charge against former pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli and his former lawyer, Evan Greebel. Both men were arrested last December and accused of scheming to steal money from pharmaceutical company Retrophin Inc., where Mr. Shkreli had been the chief executive, to cover up losses suffered by investors in Mr. Shkreli’s hedge funds. Retrophin’s board ousted Mr. Shkreli as CEO in 2014. Mr. Shkreli had pleaded not guilty to seven counts of securities fraud and conspiracy. Mr. Greebel had pleaded not guilty to one count of wire-fraud conspiracy. (Hong, 6/5)

The Associated Press:
More Charges Against Ex-Pharmaceutical Executive Shkreli
Federal prosecutors in New York have filed additional criminal charges against a pharmaceutical executive who separately was heavily criticized for raising the price of a lifesaving malaria medication. A new indictment filed Friday in Brooklyn says Martin Shkreli and his former attorney Evan Greebel schemed to defraud potential investors of his former drug company Retrophin Inc., based in San Diego. They say the two allocated company stock to seven employees to conceal Shkreli's ownership of it. (6/3)

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